There Is No Wagon - When It Comes To Dieting You Can't Fall Off: A Big Serving Of Encouragement On F

"As a primary care physician certified in Family Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine, I firmly believe that practical, sustainable lifestyle advice is as vital as the scientific knowledge behind it. Steve Mittleman's There Is No Wagon offers a relatable, down-to-earth approach that empowers individuals to embrace lasting health changes without guilt or perfectionism. The icing on the cake, no pun intended, is the book's witty and clever humor-often self-deprecating-which makes the journey toward healthier living not only accessible but genuinely enjoyable. It's a resource I would gladly recommend to my patients, friends and family as part of their journey to better health." - Steven Lawenda MD

"Steve Mittleman's There is No Wagon is an eye-opening, laugh-out-loud, and deeply relatable guide to escaping the endless cycle of dieting guilt." - Chef AJ

There is No Wagon! How did I develop a food addiction? I bet many others have a similar route. I kept starting diets and thinking I was falling off some mysterious wagon in my head because I thought I wasn't doing it right because I was trying to be perfect. I was a bad boy. I was cheating. I was guilty. Then, in between diets, I partied by overeating fatty, crappy, processed foods because I fell off the wagon, and I knew I better stuff my face because soon enough I'd be starting another diet. Eventually, I went from innocent to guilty in one bite.

Food/weight/dieting occupied a lot of space between my ears. Being tall sorta hid my weight even from myself. Denial sometimes works, and then there's the ever-popular major league self-denial. Who was I kidding? Not my family, not my friends and certainly not my stomach. I would order dis and dis and dis and dat and eventually I got an eating dis-order. Sometimes starting and falling off the wagon within 24 hours, I was a mess.

I've discovered when it comes to making poor eating choices or overeating, there is no wagon. It's not like alcoholics. It doesn't pay to have an alcoholic's black or white wagon mentality when it comes to food. Almost everyone who diets thinks they are on a wagon. Doctors use this term. Nutritionists and eating disorder specialists promote the wagon mentality. From what I've seen a good deal is that this all or nothing approach is not working. Overall it's been harmful. The joke's on us. Many in the media tell us to get 'on' a product or 'on' a diet, and we start to believe them. We thought we were on this, that, or the other thing. Eventually slipping up and resenting it.

I've observed this on/off mindset has harmed many of us. It harmed me. We have been endlessly stuck going on and falling off and where has it gotten us? In an unhealthy loss and weight gain cycle. Has this attitude worked for most of us most of the time? Some of us some of the time? No! How many of us have been able to stay on a diet or a food plan or anything? Very few. Five, ten percent? I bet I'm overestimating. Look at where we are as a nation or even as a worldwide population.

If it hasn't worked for you, I hope you abandon this wagon mentality. A diet may work, but a wagon perspective around dieting may not. We start a diet and lose 20, think we fell off and gain 30, lose 80, think we fell off and gain 90, etc. Something has to give other than our waistlines and our health. Something's got to change. Maybe our approach? Again, if it's worked for you, God bless you. I just hope we can improve on this pattern.

If there's one concept in this whole book to digest, let it be this: When it comes to food, you can't fall off. There is no wagon. What a relief. The other through line here best road to crowed out all the processed foods